Mayor John Tory's Toronto

[Amare]

DMW's personal residence should be used as a public washroom for all residents of Toronto. That would provide far more value to all residents, compared to his present value as city councillor.

But surprise, surprise. Yet another budget with a property tax increase approved which doesn't exceed the rate of inflation (only a 0.7% increase) along with the city building fund levy of 1.5%.

So in essence, city council approved a budget with a shortfall and its unbalanced. Whats Tory's plan to get the budget to balance: beg the province and federal government for money. Now if that doesnt work, the plan is to cut services. Expect nothing less from the status-quo from Mr.Status Quo himself John Tory.

 

[SunriseChampion]

DMW's personal residence should be used as a public washroom for all residents of Toronto.

Don't even tempt me....do you know what sort of degen you're dealing with here?

That would provide far more value to all residents, compared to his present value as city councillor.

It's kind of well out of my way though.

But surprise, surprise. Yet another budget with a property tax increase approved which doesn't exceed the rate of inflation (only a 0.7% increase) along with the city building fund levy of 1.5%.

What's inflation for 2020? ^That is 2.2%, which I'm going to go ahead and guess is indeed above inflation.

 

[Northern Light]

What's inflation for 2020? ^That is 2.2%, which I'm going to go ahead and guess is indeed above inflation.

The City Building Fund is a dedicated stream, exclusively to pay for transit expansion.

Its not available to fund the operating budget.

So 0.7% is below inflation for purposes of funding the City's on-going operations (libraries, bus services, community centres, fire, ambulance etc etc.)

 

[SunriseChampion]

The City Building Fund is a dedicated stream, exclusively to pay for transit expansion.

Its not available to fund the operating budget.

So 0.7% is below inflation for purposes of funding the City's on-going operations (libraries, bus services, community centres, fire, ambulance etc etc.)

Likely still above inflation for the past year.

But, thanks for that elucidation. My property tax is rolled into my sky-high rent....and I can't even sleep in my own bed because of the heat in this piece.
I was about to say I'd gladly pay more if I could get the heat turnt off but.......it's already a piss-take not being able to sleep in my own bed at current rates.
2100/mth for a 1 bed in a commie block and I have to sleep on the kitchen floor. True value. Raise those rates. Can't bug my councillor either as he'd probably tell me that my sleep belongs to the working class and I don't deserve it because I worked hard to achieve what I have in life and am middle class/bougie now.

Yeah, I guess it could have been increased more than 0.7%....but only if I get to sleep. I was thinking of sleeping in my van. Parking's only 75/mth so a good deal cheaper than sleeping on the kitchen floor.

 

[rbt]

Likely still above inflation for the past year.

But, thanks for that elucidation. My property tax is rolled into my sky-high rent....and I can't even sleep in my own bed because of the heat in this piece.
I was about to say I'd gladly pay more if I could get the heat turnt off but.......it's already a piss-take not being able to sleep in my own bed at current rates.
2100/mth for a 1 bed in a commie block and I have to sleep on the kitchen floor. True value. Raise those rates. Can't bug my councillor either as he'd probably tell me that my sleep belongs to the working class and I don't deserve it because I worked hard to achieve what I have in life and am middle class/bougie now.

Yeah, I guess it could have been increased more than 0.7%....but only if I get to sleep. I was thinking of sleeping in my van. Parking's only 75/mth so a good deal cheaper than sleeping on the kitchen floor.

I'm not sure the $250/month the city takes in Property Tax on that unit is what's driving the rent rates, nor is this $2/month a large addition. Most municipalities in Ontario have similar tax levels but lower rent rates.

Also, $1830/month is the current median 1-bed rental rate in Toronto according to PadMapper. $2/month/sqft downtown is available (100 Alexander Street): 800sqft, $1600/month, SS appliances, granite countertops, hardwood floor, etc.

You might consider moving, both for the lower price and for a more acceptable unit.

 

[SunriseChampion]

My unit is quite acceptable and I'm on the water. Alexander Street? Can't smell the water from there, no thanks.

Have had my heat shut off, all is well, bring on the tax increases.

 

[DSC]

City of Toronto publishes new data to inform solutions to homelessness See: https://www.toronto.ca/city-governm...esearch-and-reports/shelter-system-flow-data/

Today, the City of Toronto released a new dashboard with data on how people enter and exit the shelter system, known as Shelter System Flow, that will be used to inform ongoing efforts to develop permanent solutions to address homelessness.

The new data provides information about people experiencing homelessness as they access and transition through the City's municipally-funded shelter system. The data also provides a more comprehensive picture of the shelter system than the traditional measures, which only looks at nightly occupancy and capacity.

The new dashboard supports the City’s HousingTO Action Plan commitment to develop and regularly report on performance indicators that measure progress towards ensuring that experiences of homelessness are rare, brief and non-recurring.

A data-driven strategy to target interventions and measure progress in real time has been critical to success in other North American cities that have achieved reductions in chronic homelessness. Here in Toronto, the data will support a better understanding of who is experiencing homelessness and how the homelessness service system is functioning.

The data presents aggregate information on anyone who has used a shelter, hotel shelter program, 24-hour respite site or Warming Centre within the last three months, based on information from the City's Shelter Management Information System (SMIS). Demographic information in the data includes age and gender. Enhancements to the SMIS system currently underway will enable additional data on racial identity, Indigenous identity, veteran status and information about people who are sleeping outdoors to be added.

The data is presented on the City website through a public dashboard, available at www.toronto.ca/city-government/data-research-maps/research-reports/housing-and-homelessness-research-and-reports/shelter-system-flow-data/, which will be updated monthly. The data will be also available through the City's Open Data Portal.

The dashboards, which were developed by City staff using existing resources, include:

• a Monthly Snapshot highlighting the number of people entering and exiting the shelter system in the reporting month • a Historical Trends overview of people entering and exiting the shelter system over time that can be filtered by sub-populations and time periods.

The data included in the dashboard are part of the development of a Coordinated Access System for housing with supports in Toronto and a requirement of the federal Reaching Home program. The data further supports Toronto's participation in the national Built for Zero campaign, led by the Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness (CAEH).

More than 6,000 people use the shelter system each night, and the new data included in the dashboard shows that 7,829 people were actively experiencing homelessness at the end of January and had used the shelter system at least once in the past three months. This winter the City has added 680 number of spaces as part of its Winter Response Plan. Since April, the City has referred more than 1,300 people from encampments across the city to safer indoor spaces.

The City has been working with community partners and health professionals throughout the COVID-19 pandemic to protect people experiencing homelessness and assist them to move to permanent housing.

Shelter System Flow shows that more than 6,000 people exited the shelter system to permanent housing in 2020, of which close to 3,000 were assisted with a housing allowance or through the Rapid Re-housing Initiative with Toronto Community Housing Corporation.

 

[DSC]

Vision Zero get with it!

 

[afransen]

Vision Zero get with it!

A little victim-blamey. Sure, they are jaywalking, but do we stop to ask the reason why jaywalking is so common? Absurdly pedestrian-unfriendly signal timings?

 

[picard102]

Jaywalking is common because people feel they are the exception.
The pedestrian signals need a major overhaul though, starting with changing how the time remaining light works.
Make the countdown part of the Walk phase, and show the hand when the timer would normally start.

 

[W. K. Lis]

Jaywalking is common because people feel they are the exception.
The pedestrian signals need a major overhaul though, starting with changing how the time remaining light works.
Make the countdown part of the Walk phase, and show the hand when the timer would normally start.

Jaywalking is a 20th century invention...

 

[zang]

Jaywalking is common because people feel they are the exception.
The pedestrian signals need a major overhaul though, starting with changing how the time remaining light works.
Make the countdown part of the Walk phase, and show the hand when the timer would normally start.

People are the exception? Are you aware of the history of cars on the street? "Jaywalking" was an idea deliberately created by car manufacturers to criminalize pedestrians on the (then) mixed-use streets.

The forgotten history of how automakers invented the crime of "jaywalking"

In the 1920s, auto groups redefined who owned the city streets.

www.vox.com

As for pedestrian walk signals; I invite you to visit the intersection of Charles and Jarvis/Ted Rogers Way and observe the west side crosswalk.

To cross Charles, there's 7 seconds of "clear" walk phase, and 15 seconds of countdown. We've been told pedestrians aren't supposed to start walking during countdown. So you have 7 whole second window to cross the street. Except that the white walk light immediately follows an advanced left onto Charles, which I guarantee you is almost always run by someone who sees a yellowing advance light as "hit the gas". There's 1 minute and 35 seconds between those 7 seconds of clean walking time. I've almost been hit several times there (like, slam-on-the-brakes-screetching-leave-black-streaks level hit).

Because it's probably the least pedestrian friendly intersection in the city, you also can't cross directly from one side of Ted Rogers Way to the other. Workers from Rogers who want to get a coffee, a slice of pizza or hit up Rabba across the street often jaywalk, rather than make the (also dangerous) four separate crosswalk-traversal required to make a "legal" crossing from one side of the street to the other. There's no viable reason there couldn't be a crosswalk on the south side of that intersection, except that it might slow down cars on the "Rosedale Expressway" (Jarvis/Mt. Pleasant).

Google Maps

Find local businesses, view maps and get driving directions in Google Maps.

www.google.com

There are tens of thousands of people living within a handful of blocks; many who work literally across the street from where they live. Thousands just in the condos and apartments at the north end of Jarvis (with more being built every year). The priority here though, is being given to people who drive into the core from Rosedale, Leaside or further away.

Cars have had too much of the focus in our planning. That needs to stop.

 

[picard102]

As for pedestrian walk signals; I invite you to visit the intersection of Charles and Jarvis/Ted Rogers Way and observe the west side crosswalk.

So change the timing of that intersection when fixing the display system. That there are intersections where the time if felt to be too short isn't a reason to not fix the mixed messaging the signals are sending people.

 

[zang]

So change the timing of that intersection when fixing the display system. That there are intersections where the time if felt to be too short isn't a reason to not fix the mixed messaging the signals are sending people.

You completely missed the point of the entirety of that intersection being built solely for the convenience of cars. Why is it that pedestrians get given the scraps? Maybe cars shouldn't be allowed to left-turn onto Charles, period. So many just use it as a means to get onto Yonge. Maybe Jarvis shouldn't be fashioned like a freaking highway unfriendly to residents in the area? There are sidewalks less than 6 feet wide just north of Isabella, complete with poor drainage that guarantees the cars travelling 70kms an hour (because Jarvis=highway) splash pedestrians. There are no less than four schools within a block of Wellesley, and yet no photo radar, stoplight cameras, extended crossing-only lights or any kind of protections in that area for students. And let's not get started on the lack of bike lanes.

Instead of thinking about how we make people jaywalk less, how about building infrastructure to support the people who live in the area, instead of motorists driving in from dozens of kms away?

 

[W. K. Lis]

You completely missed the point of the entirety of that intersection being built solely for the convenience of cars. Why is it that pedestrians get given the scraps? Maybe cars shouldn't be allowed to left-turn onto Charles, period. So many just use it as a means to get onto Yonge. Maybe Jarvis shouldn't be fashioned like a freaking highway unfriendly to residents in the area? There are sidewalks less than 6 feet wide just north of Isabella, complete with poor drainage that guarantees the cars travelling 70kms an hour (because Jarvis=highway) splash pedestrians. There are no less than four schools within a block of Wellesley, and yet no photo radar, stoplight cameras, extended crossing-only lights or any kind of protections in that area for students. And let's not get started on the lack of bike lanes.

Instead of thinking about how we make people jaywalk less, how about building infrastructure to support the people who live in the area, instead of motorists driving in from dozens of kms away?

Jarvis Street used to be a pleasant street until 1947, when they ripped out the trees, grass boulevards, and widened the streets for the almighty automobile.

From link.

Prior to the 1940s, Jarvis Street was probably the most beautiful in all of Toronto, lined with the mansions of some of Toronto's wealthiest families.

And then, in 1947, the street was forever changed when many of its trees were ripped out to widen it for increased automobile traffic. While the project might have been necessary to accommodate a growing city, it's sad to think of what was lost in the process.